The move to digital music

Do you find yourself increasingly using CDs less? Listening to music on your PC or laptop more than on your hi-fi? Or is your computer connected to your hi-fi, so that you can listen to MP3s through it, using your PC as a source? Are you keeping that music collection held on a hard drive instead of in a pile of CDs? Well if you do, according to a new survey, you are not alone.

Napster has commissioned a report that has found that 25% of people prefer to listen to music via their PC or MP3 player rather than a hi-fi. Some 35% of respondents also said that they preferred storing their entire music collection in MP3 format rather than CD or cassette.

"This latest ICM research underlines the tremendous shift towards digital music that we've witnessed all year," said Leanne Sharman, Napster vice-president and UK general manager.

"This is further borne out by these findings which show how quickly traditional record formats are becoming obsolete."